On April 21, 2001, Russian practitioners assembled peacefully in front of the Chinese Consul in St. Petersburg.
Having received the permit from the local government, Russian practitioners assembled in front of the Chinese Consul in St. Petersburg. They appealed to China to stop persecuting Falun Gong, and opposed attempts by Chinese diplomats in Russia to apply further pressure upon Falun Dafa practitioners.
During the several hours of assembly, practitioners displayed banners that said, "Stop Persecuting Falun Gong in China", "Stop Slandering Falun Gong", "Falun Dafa -- Truth, Compassion, Tolerance", "Dafa is Widely Spread in Russia". They also displayed picture boards that clarified the truth about Falun Gong. The pictures included "List of Dafa practitioners who were persecuted to death", "Dafa in different areas of the world", and "Truth in Tiananmen Square". Some practitioners practiced exercise accompanied by Dafa music.
Many who passed by showed great interest. We distributed materials about the truth and presented the actual situation on the persecution of Falun Gong in China.
The Chinese consulate staffs were shocked and angry by the sight of Dafa practitioners. When they were running around threateningly, trying to drive away Dafa practitioners, the police officers on duty told them, "You are not in China right now. You are in Russia. Nobody here has violated any law. They have the legal permit. And their banners don't have any contents that oppose any government or the Chinese regime."
The Chinese diplomats nagged at the policemen for a long time. They kept slandering Falun Gong to them. One diplomat with menacing looks almost started a fight with the policemen.
The local government had deployed the policemen to protect the Chinese consulate and prevent it from getting harmed by us. And protect they did -- but not in quite the way they had expected. Because we were peaceful, the Consulate staff tried to drive us away by force. In fact, the policemen protected us and prevented us from harm by the Chinese consulate staffs.
The policemen continued doing their duties. They protected us very patiently and firmly so that we could carry out our legal rights. Taking the opportunity, we presented the truth about Falun Gong to them, showed them the pictures of the persecution and the situation in Tian'anmen. We also told them our own stories of how we have benefited from Falun Gong. We felt that our words touched their hearts. When we were leaving, they talked to us as if they were saying good-bye to old friends, "Take care!"
All of our efforts to hand the open letters with practitioners' signatures to the Consul-General, so he could deliver the letters to the Chinese government on our behalf, have failed so far. The consular staff rejected us. They even feared touching the letters, which are full of truth. Watching them, we feel very sad.
Everything looked as if it were ordinary during this peaceful assembly. But we could feel the intense confrontation in other dimensions between the righteous and the evil; even the weather changed to reflect it. It suddenly became cold. A cold wind blew from the direction of the Consulate. When the consular staffs went back, helplessly, and we were still standing there, things changed again. The wind died out gradually. It got warm again. Our environment became quiet and serene again. We felt that there was no chance for the evil to win in front of righteousness.
We felt extremely serene from the very beginning. We were joyful to have a chance to protect the Fa. Every practitioner who came here got a chance to "step out of the human." Some gave up their weakness and fear; some gave up old notions; some firmed up their belief on Dafa.
We came to understand better what Teacher had said about our individual cultivation's being tightly related with today's Fa rectification. We felt what it was like to be a particle that had dissolved into Dafa. We had the true feeling of being one entity with the Dafa practitioners in China. We know that the vicious people are still persecuting Dafa, and that more practitioners are being dieing from the persecution. The Fa rectification has not yet ended. Master is still waiting. Dafa practitioners in China are waiting. We Dafa practitioners in Russia are maturing and are "dissolving into the Fa". We are growing to be the great future enlightened beings that Dafa needs.
Provided by Russian Dafa practitioners
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